Why Should I Study Fractals?
What's So Hot About Fractals Anyway?
They're New.
Most math you study in school is old knowledge. The geometry you study about circles, squares and triangles, was organized around 300 BC by a man named Euclid. Fractal geometry is much newer. Much research on fractals is going on right now.
You can Understand them.
Much research is done all over the world in mathematics presently. But we need to study and learn more mathematics before we can understand most modern mathematics. There's alot about fractals that we can understand though.
Fractals often look like objects in nature. Many objects in nature aren't formed of squares or triangles, but of more complicated geometric figures. Many natural objects- ferns, coast lines, etc. are shaped like fractals. This picture is actually an example of a fractal.
Internet Research Questions:
1. Who organized geometry into a series of books? What are those books called?
2. What is the name of a mathematician who does research today? Where does he/she work? If possible send him/her email to ask questions about what a research mathematician does.
3. Draw a picture of the fractal in #3 above.
If possible, email me your answers.
lanius@cml.rice.edu
Teachers' Notes:
Other Mathematics Links:
- MSTE at UIUC
- The Math Forum
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
- MegaMath
These pages were developed through GirlTECH '96, a teachertraining and student technology council program sponsored bythe Center for Research onParallel Computation (CRPC), a NationalScience Foundation Science and Technology Center. Copyright June, 1996 Cynthia Lanius